The Wrack

Gazebo gets stronger

The gazebo beside the farmhouse, as iconic as any building on the Laudholm campus, dates back more than a century. It has long been a place to rest, meet, or strike a pose. A photo from the first decade of the 1900s demonstrates the old well house was meant to get attention!

When the nascent Laudholm Trust was spreading the word about its effort to protect the farm, the gazebo anchored a photograph that was selected for a postcard sent to thousands of mailboxes.

Over the years, though, the gazebo's aging wood became soft, the ends of the floorboards chipped and frayed, and the lattice work was damaged. The very structure was weakened to the point where something had to be done.

Over the past couple of weeks, Robert Christensen-Lang and his renovation crew methodically replaced the support posts, floor, lattice, and seating, giving the old well house a new lease on life. Better yet, the price was right: Lang donated the labor and materials.

Here's the gazebo as it was being disassembled…

…and later, as renovations neared completion.

Below, the guys from Lang Construction & Renovation pause for the camera. Their care in replicating the old structure is reflected in a detail of the bench.

The carpentry was completed on Tuesday the 4th. The finishing touch, when the weather warms, will be a new coat of paint.